Welcome to Litsy!

Too soon! ❤️‍🩹

The image is technically from the next volume, but it illustrates well where the story ends.

Love this quote from the final chapter, when he overreacts to being asked about Luo Binghe: “It was Shen Qingqiu who was overthinking the skeletons in his closet.“

That sounds about right for Shen Qingqiu!

Anyway, as ever, loved this reread, and feel like I notice/absorb more and more each time.

“It's only, long ago, I began to suspect that Cucumber-bro was a faithful reader, just one who didn't like expressing his feelings in a normal way. To think you were able to recall an obscure, throwaway plot point that I used only once. I'm very moved.“
- Shang Qinghua aka Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky to Shen Qingqiu, aka Peerless Cucumber

And yep, SQH, that's about right in summing up SQQ.

Choosing this image as my favourite for this chapter feels heartrending, given how the chapter ends. I actually forgot that there's a little more after the fall, since the donghua ends with it. One more chapter to go, a short one.

I'd say I don't get how Shen Qingqiu doesn't notice/understand Luo Binghe's crush on him, but the man's powers of self-delusion are unbelievably strong. Love him strutting his stuff to impress Binghe re: the monsters.

Recommended by @WildAlaskaBibliophile :
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I absolutely loved this! I loved the story, the characters, the art, the message, the relationships.
Snap is a weird kid who is trying to find her place in the world. She befriends another social exile at school as she also investigates the town witch. Both actions have huge impacts on her life.

Another chapter finished! Shen Qingqiu just keeps jumping in front of Luo Binghe -- technically this image is from the previous chapter, but he does it again in this one already. Binghe is running away with all sorts of confused ideas about why his Shizun is protecting him, poor boy.

But then, he's beginning to be cared for, for the first time in a long time, so “poor boy“ might not be the right words.

A political drama set during the Sui dynasty with a slow burn romance featuring espionage, hate flirting, and political machinations.

It is slow to start and there is a lot of information which can be difficult. I read up a bit because I was getting lost with what kingdom was where and why they didn't like or did like the Sui dynasty (this helped a lot).

⬇️

And that's chapter two read! I love how quickly Shen Qingqiu begins to forget that he's in a story. In the clash with Sha Hualing and her minions, he's all about protecting all the disciples of Cang Qiong Sect, and risks himself selflessly, even under threat of death. He's far braver than he thinks he is; throughout, it's very obvious that he has very little insight into himself, so this isn't surprising.

And Liu Qingge's joined the story! 💙

This presents a reimagining of historically marginalized experiences by bringing magic into the mix. Similarly to LGBTQIA+ gatherings being broken up by policing forces, the magic users in this book run secret broom races, hidden from the persecuting eye of the law. I greatly enjoyed this book and even more so after reading the end notes. Incredibly inclusive. I happy cried a little. #LGBTQIA #Magic #Indigenous #BlackExperiences #DisabilitiesRep

Time for a reread! I love these books: they were the first danmei I read. The setup (a master/student relationship) is immensely problematic to a Western reader, but it's important to consider the context and also how the story absolutely mitigates that and rebalances the power scales between the two. In this TED talk I will...

Anyway, so far in this reread I have been enjoying how genre-savvy SQQ is, and how that is his strength AND weakness.